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Health and wellbeing

Our health and wellbeing centres offer you and your family helpful information about medical conditions and illnesses as well as lots of tips to inspire and support you to make better decisions around your lifestyle and wellbeing.

Our health and wellbeing centres offer you and your family helpful information about medical conditions and illnesses as well as lots of tips to inspire and support you to make better decisions around your lifestyle and wellbeing.

NHS website

Scars

Read about scars, including the different types, how and where they form and how they're treated.

3 October 2018

Introduction

A scar is a mark left on the skin after a wound or injury has healed.

Scars are a natural part of the healing process. Most will fade and become paler over time, although they never completely disappear.

Types of scars

A scar can be a fine line or a pitted hole on the skin, or an abnormal overgrowth of tissue.

Normal fine-line scars

A minor wound like a cut will usually heal to leave a red, raised line, which will gradually get paler and flatter over time.

This process can take up to two years. The scar won't disappear completely and you'll be left with a visible mark or line.

Fine-line scars are common following a wound or after surgery. They aren't usually painful, but they may be itchy for a few months.

On darker skin types, the scar tissue may fade to leave a brown or white mark. A pale scar may be more obvious on tanned skin because scar tissue doesn't tan.

Keloid scars

A keloid scar is an overgrowth of tissue that occurs when too much collagen is produced at the site of the wound.

The scar keeps growing, even after the wound has healed.

Keloid scars are raised above the skin and are red or purple when newly formed, before gradually becoming paler. They're often itchy or painful, and can restrict movement if they're tight and near a joint.

Hypertrophic scars

Like keloid scars, hypertrophic scars are the result of excess collagen being produced at the site of a wound.

But not as much collagen is produced in hypertrophic scars compared with keloid scars.

Also, unlike keloid scars, hypertrophic scars don't extend beyond the boundary of the original wound, but they may continue to thicken for up to six months.

Hypertrophic scars are red and raised to start with, before becoming flatter and paler over the course of several years.

Pitted or sunken scars

Some scars caused by skin conditions, such as acne ↗ and chickenpox ↗, can have a sunken or pitted appearance.

Pitted scars, also known as atrophic or "ice-pick" scars, can also occur as a result of an injury that causes a loss of underlying fat.

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